Kevin Smith Says ‘Clerks 3′ Is Still Happening; Reveals ‘Tusk’ Poster

When Kevin Smith (Mallrats) initially announced a third followup to his 1994 cult classic comedy Clerks – and its sequel, Clerks II, which arrived in 2006 – he also told his fans that he would retire after the creation of Clerks 3. At the time, the film was still in the early development stages, but Smith finished the script late last year and has moved on to finding financial backing for the film.

After Smith announced that The Weinstein Company, who were involved with producing and distributing Clerks II, would not be funding Clerks 3 with its $6 million budget, it seemed the project had stalled. However, Smith has since responded to concerns over the future of his Clerks threequel.

Addressing his fans directly on Twitter, Smith reassured everyone that Clerks 3 is still in the works despite the Weinstein’s lack of desire to provide funding. Smith also reiterated that the company did offer to distribute Clerks 3, even though they do not want to foot the bill for the whole film.

Read Smith’s tweets:

Via @Kitties4every1 "Will Clerks 3 still be made?" Heavens yes, just not with the Weinsteins' money. And all involved are okay with this.

For those who had speculated whether Smith would be able to keep Clerks 3 alive after the Weinstein’s passed on the project, the filmmaker seems undeterred.

Despite his optimism, though, Smith has a few other projects currently in the works. He originally delayed Clerks 3 in order to film Comes the Krampus, but Smith’s upcoming movie, Tusk, will be his next release. However, the filmmaker’s own works have taken a backseat recently in favor of a certain big studio franchise.

On his blog, Silent Bob Speaks, Smith quelled all rumors of his involvement with a script for Warner Bros. and drew a line between what he could and couldn’t confirm in regard to Dawn of Justice. The filmmaker also took the opportunity to debut the first official poster for Tusk, which he called the best movie he’s ever made – “or at the very least, the most interesting.”

Check out the poster:

To create Tusk, Smith was inspired by a story about a man who is shipwrecked and befriends a walrus, then hires someone to dress up in a walrus suit for two hours a day in an attempt to recapture that friendship. At San Diego Comic-Con last year, the filmmaker described it as “a cuddly version of The Human Centipede.”

For those wanting to know more about Tusk, Smith also revealed that he would be posting the official trailer for the film on its website after premiering it at his SDCC panel in a few weeks.

Casual fans of Smith’s may need to wait for the trailer before passing judgment on Tusk since very little is known about the film, though many of the filmmaker’s devoted fans already made their opinions clear when they voted #WalrusYes last year and helped Smith create the movie.

Stay tuned to Screen Rant for more news on Clerks 3.Tusk will be released sometime this year.